Methods for administering preventative healthcare to a patient population

ABSTRACT

Methods for administering preventative healthcare measures to a patient population are disclosed. A patient population eligible to receive certain healthcare benefits is defined and thereafter multiple sources of healthcare data are compiled and analyzed to create health profiles for each individual. An objective set of criteria for providing preventative care is provided to eligible members within the patient population and appropriate healthcare is administered to the degree necessary to make sure a sufficient percentage of the population receives adequate healthcare treatment consistent with the recognized, objective healthcare standards. Patients remaining non-compliant are sought for further administration of healthcare until requisite compliance standards are met.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 13/712,758 filed Dec. 12, 2012, entitled METHODS FORADMINISTERING PREVENTATIVE HEALTHCARE TO A PATIENT POPULATION, all ofthe teachings of which are incorporated herein by reference.

STATEMENT RE: FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH/DEVELOPMENT

Not Applicable

BACKGROUND

The present invention is directed to methods for administeringpreventative healthcare to a patient population eligible to receivehealthcare benefits in order to improve the quality component oftreatment outcomes.

The healthcare industry is largely driven by compensation based onutilization. Hospitals, specialists and ancillary providers in the pastwere typically compensated based on utilization, which as a consequenceled to increased utilization and wastage of healthcare resources. Toprevent over-utilization and over-billing, payers (i.e., insurancecompanies and the like) began to capitate some of the services providedunder managed care in order to limit the amount of dollars being spent.While this approach was generally effective in limiting total spending,such approach did not improve the quality component of treatmentoutcomes.

The Affordable Care Act, implemented as part of sweeping healthcarereform, introduced much needed changes in the healthcare industry. Onemajor item was the introduction of Accountable Care Organizations(ACO's) that would attempt to address the problems being faced by thehealthcare industry today which, among other things, includedemphasizing the component of healthcare quality whereby reimbursementwould be based not on utilization patterns but on treatment outcomes.For example, providers would receive additional compensation forperforming post-discharge planning, working with other providers forpreventing unnecessary emergency room admissions, made meaningful use ofelectronic healthcare records (EHR), implementing preventativehealthcare measures, and the like.

Since the ACO concept is completely new for managed care organizations(e.g., HMO's) and/or traditional ways for providing care, a substantialneed in the art has been created for new types of methods that, in thedelivery of healthcare, enables healthcare providers and carecoordinators such as nurses and case managers to render services interms of “accountable care.” Such practices would include additionaldocumentation, coordination of care, increased focus on complex casemanagement and disease management, automated updates of eligiblebeneficiaries and disease rosters, call logs, and the like. Suchpractices would further preferably integrate and interface with multipledata sources such as claims, beneficiaries' eligibility, pharmacy, labdata, accounting data and the like so as to create an aggregation ofdata compiled into a single database that would enable healthcare to beadministered to achieve optimal patient outcomes and objectivehealthcare quality. In this regard, there is a substantial need in theart for methods that can enable healthcare to be administered withemphasis on quality, particularly with respect to preventative carewhereby healthcare can be administered that can ensure that qualitymeasures and preventative care, such as outstanding vaccinations and thelike, can be administered to a specified patient population that issubstantially more cost effective and efficient than current methods.

BRIEF SUMMARY

The present invention is directed to a population management applicationthat provides a medium to focus on providing optimal preventive care toa specific patient population. Given the fact that healthcare providersspend only 15-20 minutes per office visit, they primarily focus onpatients' chief complaints, resulting in very little focus on preventivecare. This invention is designed to save providers' valuable time byintegrating comprehensive set of healthcare data and providingoutstanding “To Do” lists for each patient that results in an optimaldelivery of healthcare.

Specifically, the present invention has the capability to measure theperformance of Accountable Care Organizations (ACO) to providepreventative care and maintenance care of patients at risk for certaindiseases against the quality measures set by Centers forMedicare/Medical Service (CMS). It calculates and summarizes anorganization's scores for each quality measure against benchmarks andprovides the workflow to improve quality of care.

To that end, the invention uses patients' enrollment information andcompiles administrative and supplemental data from sources such asclaims, pharmacy, clinical laboratory, and uploaded health records togenerate the eligible population for each of the quality measures. Oncethe eligible population of members/enrollees (denominator) has beenestablished, it calculates the set of patients that have fulfilledrequirements for the measures (numerator) as well as the ones that havenot met the criteria, also known as the non-compliant patients(numerator non-compliant or patients with “quality gaps”).

According to a preferred embodiment, a central database is provided thatis linked to a plurality of databases containing specific healthcareinformation concerning specific patients of a specified patientpopulation. Such databases are directed to: electronic health records;pharmacy data, including prescriptions, number of prescriptions,duration of therapy, and the like; a lab database concerning all labtests performed and their relevant findings for each patient in thepatient population; and a further database related to claims andeligibility for each specific patient as provided and administered byany and all centers for Medicare/Medicaid services. The central databaseupdates such information on a cyclical basis so as to provide the mostcurrent information available as may be accessed by healthcare providersand healthcare administrators.

From that collection of data, the patient population is first screenedso as to identify an eligible patient population. Thereafter, thosepatients within the eligible population are compared to data compiled onthe central database to ensure that each patient has complied with oneor more healthcare requirements, and in particular any preventativehealthcare measures that would be desirable to maintain optimal healthand quality of healthcare delivery. In this regard, the presentinvention incorporates the use of standardized criteria related tonumerous healthcare metrics related to specific preventative healthcareobjectives, such as immunizations, disease screening and supervision ofpatients in at-risk populations prone to diabetes, hypertension,ischemic vascular disease, heart failure and coronary artery disease,such that objective healthcare criteria are met.

Once the specific needs of each patient within the eligible patientpopulation are identified, measures are taken to ensure that eachpatient has been adequately treated and services rendered so that eachspecific member is deemed compliant or otherwise identified for furtherfollow-up where more aggressive measures necessary to ensure compliancecan be implemented.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These as well as other features of the present invention will becomemore apparent upon reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a flow chart depicting the general steps for performing themethods of the present invention for administering preventativehealthcare to a patient population.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram depicting the computer/server architecturefor implementing the methods of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an exemplary screenshot identifying specific categories ofpreventative healthcare measures, the number of eligible patients withinthe patient population for which such preventative healthcare measuresare available, and from that population those groups that have eithercomplied or not complied with the requirements of such specific healthmeasure and a percentage benchmark for the given population.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The detailed description set forth below is intended as a description ofthe presently preferred embodiment of the invention, and is not intendedto represent the only form in which the present invention may beimplemented or performed. The description sets forth the functions andsequences of steps for practicing the invention. It is to be understood,however, that the same or equivalent functions and sequences may beaccomplished by different embodiments and that they are also intended tobe encompassed within the scope of the invention. In this regard, thepresent invention is directed to methods for administering preventativehealthcare to a patient population that ensures that the healthcareprovided achieves optimal quality standards, particularly with respectto the administration of preventative healthcare to those patients inneed of such services.

Referring now to the figures, and initially to FIG. 1, there is depicteda flow chart for administering preventative healthcare to a patientpopulation that is exceptionally more efficient, more effective andgreatly minimizes waste and conserves healthcare resources than priorart healthcare administration practices. As illustrated, the method 10initially comprises the step 20 of identifying a patient population ofmembers/enrollees of a given healthcare plan that are eligible toreceive preventative care benefits. Such process of aggregating apatient population may be accomplished by any of a variety of knownmethods in the art and typically will involve enrolling members orenrollees within a given healthcare plan as is conventional practice.

Once identified, in step 30 a comprehensive collection of medical datais aggregated from multiple sources so that a comprehensive healthcareprofile of each patient is captured and made available for use inassessing a patient's health and identifying which quality measures haveor have not been met. Such multiple sources of data, discussed morefully in connection with FIG. 2 below, can consist of electronichealthcare records, pharmacy data, lab results and claims andeligibility information derived from Centers for Medicare/MedicaidService (CMS). In order to ensure that such comprehensive medical datais kept as current as practical, step 40 is provided whereby each sourceof data from which the comprehensive data is compiled is updated on aperiodic basis.

In step 50, there is provided a standardized criteria for preventativehealthcare measures which are utilized as the standard by whichpreventative healthcare will be administered to eligible patients withinthe patient population. Such preventative healthcare measures may takeany of a variety of standards that have been established in the art.Examples of such preventative healthcare standards may include theCenters for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMMS), such as the five-starquality rating system; National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA)standards including the Healthcare Effectiveness Data and InformationSet (HEDIS) quality measures; or Integrated Health Associations (IHA)Healthcare Pay for Performance (P4) program.

As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, such preventativehealthcare standards are set nationally, and further will generallydefine a population by age and, where appropriate, by gender or clinicalcondition. For purposes of practicing the present invention, step 50further expressly takes into account twenty specific quality measuresthat are administered, including eight categories of preventative care,six categories related to the care and management of diabetes and sixquality measures related to cardiac-specific health measures. In allsuch instances, each measure is provided with specific criteria forcompliance and non-compliance according to a standardized level of care.

In step 60, a comparison is made to determine whether the eligiblepatients within a patient population have been provided the healthcarenecessary to address the quality measures set forth in step 50, in whichcase if provided, such quality measures have been met and the processends 70.

To the extent a specific quality measure has not been met for a givenpatient 80, measures are implemented to provide preventative care instep 70. Such measures include patient follow-up, patient education andthe novel use of a “Boarding Pass” discussed more fully below thatinforms the patient of what measures need to be taken and how to goabout addressing the same.

After having implemented such measures 90, follow-up procedures areestablished to determine whether or not the health quality measures havebeen met 100, in which case the methods end 110, or, if not, theimplementation measures are pursued again until such time as the measurehas been achieved or otherwise no longer applicable.

To help accomplish these steps, in FIG. 2 there is shown an exemplaryarchitecture 200 for implementing the methods of the present inventionaccording to a preferred embodiment. In this regard, there is provided acentral database 210 that is linked to a plurality of databasesassociated with specific healthcare information for a given patientpopulation. As illustrated, the central database 210 is connected to adatabase of electronic health records 220, pharmacy data 230, lab data240, and data associated with centers for Medicare/Medicaid services250, with respect to claims and eligibility information. Suchinformation from the plurality of databases 220-250, which is well-knownto those skilled in the art and capable of being readily and securelyaccessed, is operative to produce an aggregation of data within thecentral database 210 so that the applicable records and medicalinformation for each member within the specified patient population iscompiled and made readily accessible. Along those lines, the key to thepractice of the present invention is updating the data within eachrespective database on a periodic basis. Table 1 below identifies thesespecific types of data that is aggregated in the central database, aswell as the detailed data from which the information is derived and thefrequency by which such information is updated.

TABLE 1 # Data Type Source Information Extracted Frequency 1 Claims CMS:Part Claim at the member level Monthly A & B 2 Membership CMS Memberdetails and Monthly eligibility data 3 Providers CMS Claims Providerdetails including Monthly Data geography 4 Lab Results Lab VendorsClinical Lab Results Bi-Weekly 5 Pharmacy CMS: Part D Medication refillswith Monthly Data dosage and other details

In addition to the foregoing categories of data and the sources fromwhich they are derived, it is further contemplated that the centraldatabase 210 will further be provided with input means to includesupplemental data concerning any other type of relevant medicalinformation concerning a patient, whether it be clinical data, officevisits and encounters and the like, which can be input into the systemand will be integrated within the central database in real time. Suchmeans of documenting and inputting such information are well-known andreadily understood by those skilled in the art, and may be accomplishedthrough inputting data through electronic medical records and the like.

As will further be readily understood and appreciated by those skilledin the art, the method by which the aforementioned databases areoperatively connected to one another in order to send and retrieve thevarious types of information, as well as how such information isaggregated on the central database may be accomplished by a variety ofcomputer hardware well-known to those skilled in the art. Exemplary ofsuch hardware includes Microsoft SQO server 2005 and server 2008.

Given the foregoing architecture and interconnection between centraldatabase and plurality of databases coupled therewith, the discussionbelow and describes how an organization can use the present invention tomeasure and improve its rate of compliance with objective qualitymeasures to optimally deliver healthcare. In this regard, the methods ofthe present invention are operative to accommodate the yearly ACOquality measures' changes made by CMS or any other objective qualitycriteria with minimal impact to the application design. Simply updatingthe tables with the changes would automatically reflect the changes forthe quality measures by which healthcare delivery and subsequent qualityare assessed.

To implement the present novel methodology, there is initially providedan eligible population to which healthcare benefits are made available(step 20 of FIG. 1), and from that population are identified compliantand non-compliant patients for each specific measure of healthcare, aswell as the current score and benchmark. Such report provides anoverview of an organization's performance on a set of 20 qualitymeasures—8 Preventive Care, 6 Diabetes and 6 Cardiology related. Aportion of an exemplary report specifying such data is shown in FIG. 3.

Each measure is provided with the specific criteria for compliance,non-compliance and exclusion of a patient. Table 2 identifies eachspecific preventative care measure of the 20 quality measures utilizedin the practice of the present invention to determine whether or notsufficient preventative care is being administered to a sufficientpercentage of the patient population.

TABLE 2 # PREVENTATIVE HEALTH MEASURES 1 Influenza immunization 2Pneumococcal vaccination 3 Tobacco use and cessation 4 Tobacco use andcessation following cessation treatment 5 Depression screening 6Colorectal cancer screening 7 Mammography screening 8 Blood pressuremeasurement

All such preventative health measures are well-known in the art androutinely practiced using conventional medical procedures. Importantly,however, the methods of the present invention ensure that each patient'scontinuously updated medical records reflect if and when suchpreventative healthcare measures have been taken. If not, the methodsherein can target a population for further follow-up and administrationof such preventative healthcare measures. In this regard, the presentinvention is ideally suited for not only tracking the degreepreventative healthcare measures are administered to a patientpopulation, they can be utilized to determine if certain benchmarks havebeen set (for example, vaccination of a certain percentage of thepatient population), and to proactively identify individual patientsthat may be prone to greater disease progression and potentially higherrates of morbidity and mortality that could otherwise be avoided throughpreventative care. Along those lines, the methods of the presentinvention may be practiced in conjunction with the teachings ofApplicant's co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/712,776,filed Dec. 12, 2012, entitled METHODS FOR OPTIMIZING MANAGED HEALTHCAREADMINISTRATION AND ACHIEVING OBJECTIVE QUALITY STANDARDS, the teachingsof which are expressly incorporated herein by reference.

In addition to the aforementioned preventative health measures, thepresent invention further contemplates administering preventativehealthcare measures to at-risk patient populations afflicted with aparticular condition. Specifically, the present invention contemplatesadministering “maintenance” care to eligible patients within the patientpopulation afflicted with or at risk for developing diabetes,hypertension, ischemic vascular disease, heart failure and/or coronaryartery disease. In this regard, there are six specific metrics relatedto patients at risk for diabetes that set forth criteria objectivelyconsidered appropriate for diabetes management. Table 3 sets forth thespecific metrics to be met with respect to diabetes by the members inthe eligible healthcare population deemed at risk, as determined byscreening and via evaluation of patient data stored on the centraldatabase 210.

TABLE 3 METRICS # FOR AT-RISK POPULATION - DIABETES OBJECTIVE 1 HbA1c(glycosylated hemoglobin) 8% or less 2 Low density lipoprotein (LDL) 100mg/deciliter or less 3 Blood pressure (B) Less than 140/90 4Confirmation of tobacco non-use Cessation 5 Confirmation of dailyaspirin use (optional) Compliance 6 HbA1c (glycosylated hemoglobin) 9%or less

The methods of the present invention further contemplate implementingmonitoring and management of patients within the eligible patientpopulation at risk for certain cardiovascular conditions, namely,hypertension, ischemic vascular disease, heart failure and coronaryartery disease. Table 4 below lists the specific metrics associated witheach of the coronary conditions and the parameters to be met in managingsuch at-risk patients.

TABLE 4 METRICS FOR AT- RISK POPULATION - # CARDIAC OBJECTIVE 1Hypertension Blood pressure control 2 Ischemic vascular disease Fulllipid profile and management of low density lipoprotein (LDL) (100mg/deciliter or less) 3 Ischemic vascular disease Use of aspirin oranother antithrombotic 4 Heart failure Beta-blocker therapy for leftventricular systolic dysfunction (LVSD) 5 Coronary artery disease Drugtherapy for lowering low density lipoprotein (LDL) 6 Coronary arterydisease ACE inhibitor or ARB therapy (angiotensin converting enzymeinhibitor with angiotensin-receptor blocker)

In this regard, each specific quality measure has an objective criteriato be met, and once a given patient has been afforded that preventativecare, that patient is identified as being compliant. In all theaforementioned categories, the patient population will typically involveall members 18 years or older, and preferably patients between the ages18-75. Some specific categories, however, will apply to differentsegments of the patient population as will be appreciated by thoseskilled in the art. Specifically, pneumococcal vaccination will bedirected to patients typically 65 or older; colorectal cancer screeningwill be directed to patients generally between the ages of 50 to 80;mammography screening will be directed to female patients generallybetween the ages of 42 and 69; and in the case of patients at risk forheart failure on beta-blocker therapy for left ventricular systolicdysfunction (LVSD), patients 18 years or older with LDEF less than 40%or with moderately or severe depressed left ventricular systolicfunction.

As discussed more fully below, by identifying the specific preventativehealthcare quality measures to be afforded the eligible population, andby further making a determination how much of that population has beengiven such care, percentages can be derived as to how much of thepopulation has been sufficiently treated. In turn, that percentage canbe compared against a benchmark to ensure that adequate healthcaremeasures have been taken with respect to the aforementioned qualitymeasures set forth in Tables 2-4.

Moreover, by expressly identifying twenty individual quality measures asset forth in Tables 2-4, coupled with the objective quality standardsthat must be met in order to determine compliance, the methods of thepresent invention readily provide a mechanism for continuouslyidentifying which specific patients within the patient population healthconditions warrant particular treatment for particular conditions, as isprovided by the continuously updated medical information that isaggregated per step 30 of FIG. 1, but also identifies what specificaction needs to be taken to ensure objectively appropriate healthcarehas been administered to such patients. Such data makes it easy to thusidentify a healthcare organization's performance level by measure andgives an idea as to which measures need to be focused on.

By virtue of being able to readily identify the eligible population ornon-compliant population, gives healthcare providers the respective listwith the demographic information of all the patients and their alignedproviders. In this regard, patient data is derived to show the followingareas: 1) Non-Compliant Measures; 2) Compliant Measures; and 3)Exclusions. In order to assess the degree by which preventative care isadministered to the eligible patient population, the present inventioncontemplates measuring the percentage of patients that have received aspecific standard of care and/or have attained a specific metric, asobjectively set forth in a given standardized criteria, as compared tothe entire patient population eligible to receive such preventativecare. In this regard, the percentage is derived whereby the patientpopulation is the denominator and the number of patients within thatpopulation that have attained the desired standard of care being thenumerator. A benchmark is then established whereby a specific percentageof the population has been provided with a given preventative caremeasure versus the entire eligible patient population. A standard of 95%would typically represent that an optimal portion of the patientpopulation has received adequate preventative care. Other benchmarkpercentages may further be utilized to measure preventative healthcareadministration. For example, 90% may represent a base line level for agiven healthcare standard of preventative healthcare and 85% may beindicative of suboptimal delivery of a given preventative healthcaremeasure.

Such information gives healthcare providers an overall picture of aspecific patient's level of compliance and a list of measures that needto be focused on, as well as the claims, pharmacy and lab data that madethat patient qualify for treatment.

Such information further enables users to identify and communicate withthose patients regarding their non-compliance and implements measuresthat ensure that the patients are aware of their preventive health needsand requirements. In this regard, the methods of the present inventionnot only enable a specific segment of the patient population to bereadily identified that is deficient in receiving preventative care,such methods further enable specific individuals within the patientpopulation to be selectively tracked and targeted for an individualizedpatient approach whereby proactive measures can be taken to ensure thata specific patient is afforded sufficient preventative care so as topotentially ward off potential disease progression and the like. Forexample, healthcare providers can print out “Boarding Pass” which is apre-designed letter template listing all the non-compliant measures forthat patient. Such letter can be mailed out to the patients or handed tothem in person to make them more proactively involved in their healthcare.

Such contact with the patient also enables the methods disclosed hereinto capture pertinent medical information that is missing from claims,pharmacy, and lab information for the patient to change their statusfrom non-compliant to compliant/excluded for a given measure. Theapplication also allows the user to upload supporting documentationwhich can be retrieved at any time via the central database, all ofwhich can go to determining whether the patient becomes compliant withregard to a given measure.

The methods disclosed herein, using known search techniques, can furtherbe filtered by region, service area and network, or can be viewed at acompany level. The advantage of this filtering system is that users cansee and compare the rate of compliance between differentcampuses/networks as may be desired. It also makes it easier to identifyoutliers and quickly address problems that may exist only in certaingeographies or regions. The present invention offers the capability togroup several networks into service areas and analyze performance at theservice area level.

In all cases, however, the ultimate objective is to ensure that theobjective criteria for each quality measure are met with respect to eacheligible patient within the patient population. Attempts to provide suchcare are implemented in the aforementioned manner until such time aseach patient can be deemed compliant for a particular quality measureand/or an acceptable percentage of the eligible patient population hasbeen treated. As is also contemplated, to the extent a particular memberis no longer within the patient population and/or is no longer eligibleto receive such preventative care measures, it will be understood andreadily appreciated that the methods contemplate any such individualwill be excluded from the methods whereby the specific patient isentirely removed from the patient population or, alternatively, theapplication of the objective quality measures are not compared to aspecific patient or a specific condition of a patient, in which case nodetermination is made whether or not a patient is compliant ornon-compliant for a given condition. As will be appreciated by thoseskilled in the art, such mechanism thus enables the methods to bepracticed solely in connection with eligible patients within the patientpopulation so as to conserve healthcare resources, prevent waste andensure that only those patients eligible to receive care adhering to theobjective quality standards actually do get the care to which they areentitled.

The detailed description set forth below is intended as a description ofthe presently preferred embodiment of the invention, and is not intendedto represent the only form in which the present invention may beimplemented or performed. The description sets forth the functions andsequences of steps for practicing the invention. It is to be understood,however, that the same or equivalent functions and sequences may beaccomplished by different embodiments and that they are also intended tobe encompassed within the scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for administering preventativehealthcare to manage patients within a patient population at risk fordiabetes, the method comprising the steps: a) identifying a patientpopulation eligible to receive the administration of healthcare; b)identifying a sub-population of patients within said populationidentified in step a) that are at risk for diabetes; c) aggregating datafor each patient within said patient populations identified in step b)and generating a patient profile for each said patient within saidpatient sub-population in step b), said aggregated patient profileinformation being compiled and stored electronically on a computerreadable medium; d) providing standardized preventative health measuresand metrics for the management of diabetes of said patients identifiedin step b); e) evaluating said patient profile informationelectronically stored in step c) and comparing said electronicallystored data with said preventative health measures and metrics providedin step d); f) administering healthcare consistent with said measuresand metrics set forth in step d) such that a portion of said patientsidentified in said patient sub-population in step b) are administeredhealthcare per said metrics for diabetes; and g) electronically updatingsaid medical information stored at step c) to document saidadministration of healthcare administered in step f).
 2. The method ofclaim 2 wherein in step d), said metrics for the management of saidpatients within said patient population at risk for diabetes comprisemanaging patient glycosylated hemoglobin (HdA1c) to levels of 8% orless, managing patient low density lipoproteins levels to 100mg/deciliter or less, lowering patient blood pressure levels to 140/90or less, confirming patient cessation of smoking, confirming patientdaily use of aspirin and combinations thereof.
 3. The method of claim 2wherein said method further comprises repeating steps a)-g) such that atleast 85% of said patient sub-population identified in step b) at riskfor diabetes have met the metrics for diabetes management.
 4. The methodof claim 3 wherein said method further comprises repeating steps a)-g)such that at least 90% of said patient sub-population identified in stepb) at risk for diabetes have met the metrics for diabetes management. 5.The method of claim 4 wherein said method further comprises repeatingsteps a-g such that at least 95% of said patient sub-populationidentified in step b) at risk for diabetes have met the metrics fordiabetes management.